Flying down the 23rd Street ramp at 90 mph, unconcerned about anyone in his path

One witness estimated Terry A. Gray was going 80 miles an hour when he careened down the 23rd Street ramp off northbound I-435 last Sept. 17 and triggered a chain-reaction crash that left two people dead and another with a serious brain injury.

Sometimes, as we know, witnesses tend to overestimate the speed of cars passing them and being driven recklessly. Not in this case. Crash investigators determined Gray was actually going 90 miles an hour when his black, 2015 Dodge Ram pickup slammed into an SUV, which, in turn, hit two other vehicles and sent them flying.

When the metal settled, 3-year-old Ryan Hampel and 16-year-old Samantha Raudales were dead, and Samantha’s father, Edwin Raudales-Flores had suffered a serious brain injury. (In early reports, the father’s name was listed as Geovanny Raudales.)

Earlier today, I’m happy to report, the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office charged Gray, a 51-year-old Independence man, with several felony counts — enough to put him behind bars for life, provided he is sentenced to consecutive rather than concurrent terms.

Gray faces two counts of DWI, resulting in death or, “in the alternative,” two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of DWI resulting in serious physical injury or, “in the alternative,” two counts of assault.

(The “in the alternative” language is just as confusing to me as it must be to you. Suffice it to say there are plenty of charges and evidence to put this asshole away for a long, long time. The prosecutor’s office lists 25 prospective witnesses.)

Terry A. Gray’s Dodge Ram pickup, after he dished out carnage on the 23rd Street ramp

Unfortunately, I don’t think Gray is off the streets as of this writing. A records clerk at the Jackson County Detention Center told me tonight Gray was not in the jail. The prosecutor’s office is requesting that a judge set Gray’s bond at $75,000 after he is booked.

(I regret, also, that because Gray apparently has not been arrested, I don’t have a booking photo to show you.)

**

The question I’ve been grappling with since I first learned about this crash is: Why in the world was Terry Gray going 90 in a 40 mph zone?

In today’s charging documents, the prosecutor’s office shed gave some insight into that…Gray was high on marijuana, and he was mad —- mad because traffic leaving a Chiefs game had slowed him down on northbound I-435.

“He stated he was upset at all of the traffic and probably should have gone the other way,” a police probable cause statement says.

One witness described the black truck as it proceeded northbound on I-435.

“He (the witness) observed a black truck in front of him swerving shoulder to shoulder. The swerving was abrupt as if he was jerking the wheel. He (the witness) decided not to pass the truck due to its driving and stayed behind it. Other traffic stayed behind it as well and the truck suddenly took the 23rd St. exit. He did not see the crash.”

Another witness picks it up from there:

“As she (the witness) took the exit, the truck drove around her on the driver’s side shoulder at what she believed to be 80 mph. The truck continued down the exit to the stoplight. She observed the stoplight to be red and the truck kept driving at the same speed. She never saw any brake lights on the truck and the truck ran into the back of a car that was sitting at the red light. The truck kept driving across the entire intersection until hitting the rock wall on the other side.”

Just reading about it takes my breath away…What we have here is a 51-year-old man (51!) hurtling along, high and pissed off, without a lick of concern for anyone’s well-being, including his own.

…Not even after the crash, when people were injured and dying. One witness told police:

“He did not seem to have any regard about anyone else involved in the crash and had no remorse. He was kicking things around and throwing things into the back of his truck.”

**

Regular readers know I’ve been following this case since it occurred. Because it was complicated — with a lot of elements, witnesses and forensics — Gray has been walking around a free man the last three and a half months.

Today, finally, is a gratifying day for three groups of people: the families of the victims who died, those who were injured and survived and the public at large.

Let’s just hope this pathetic excuse for a human being is apprehended before he gets behind the wheel of another vehicle and harms anyone else.

My heart goes out to the Raudales and Hampel families. A couple of months ago, a daughter of Raudales-Flores told me in a Facebook message her father was making good progress but doctors didn’t know if he would make a full recovery. Subsequent attempts to contact the daughter were unsuccessful. I wish Mr. Raudales-Flores the best.

Good work staying on this, Fitz. I hope this @#&*ing scumbag goes to prison for a long, long time. And considering that he was at a Chiefs game and had a big American flag on the back of his pickup, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was loudly complaining about all the players who knelt/sat during the national anthem but then full throatedly chanting “Home of the CHIEFFSSS!” at the end.

Thank you once again for following up on this story. As I commented on your first story, we were at that intersection when the accident occurred. It was terrifying. I am very glad they are going to throw the book at him. Unfortunately, that won’t change anything for the victims. But at least he won’t be able to do this to anyone else.

I wouldn’t count on too lengthy of a sentence given that, as we have discussed here before, Jackson County has some of the best judges money can buy and, if Gray can afford to hire a good attorney, he may receive a minimal sentence. Add in the fact that with the push on to legalize weed, it’s not politically correct to draw attention to its downside.

Once again, thanks for your persistence in keeping this story alive and letting the prosecutors know that people are watching.

You bet, John…I called the police p.i.o. office regularly when the case was with them, and I called or emailed Mike Mansur, spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, at least half a dozen times after it went to Jean Peters-Baker’s office. There’s really something to that tap, tap, tapping away…